532 Comments

Sucks!!! Andre out again :(
PLEASE JOE – ONE GAME WITHOUT PIERRE!!! WE WANT TO SEE ETHIER, KEMP AND YOUNG ONE TIME AT LEAST ONCE – JUST ONE TIME – PIERRE NEEDS SLEEP!!!! WE WANT TO SEE ETHIER, KEMP AND YOUNG IN THE OUTFIELD – PLEASE. THE FANS WANT A REST FROM PIERRE WHETHER PIERRE WANTS THE REST OR NOT – PLEASE!!!!!!

Take Phew out and put in Dre’ and bat Kemp, Marty, or DY leadoff and it would be a better lineup. A healthy Ferk would really make it a great lineup with him leading off, Phew on the bench, Dre’ in right, and DY in left.

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
I hope someday Ferk is healthy.
And JoJo will sit Phew’s Buns. LOL!!!!

You know, Juan Pierre is no spring chicken any more (30 in August), ESPECIALLY for a guy who relies completely on his speedy legs to provide any value whatsoever. He really needs to start taking off the day games after night games, just like all the other aging vets.
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Outside of JP, I ain’t complaining about this lineup. With a lefty out there, Torre went heavy with righties, put Russell’s RH bat in at 3B (he needs NOT to catch these day games after night games), and is playing LaRoche (and batting him FIFTH) over Maza at 2B (finally).

LOL!! hey ndeschenes can be some kind of spirit that comes in and out just enough to remind us of our purpose LOL!! Can you tell I am not impressed at all with the line-up. I think it has happened more than not that certain players get benched after having a good day. Ethier and DeWitt’s names (along with Stults of course) were all over the media articles, and yet who is sitting – the one that started the rally in the first inning and the most productive hitter of the evening. What in the world are they thinking – and to do this to a pitcher that is trying to get a first win is stupid. :)

Miss Debbie – with all due respect I must disagree with you (other than I’d rather see Pierre sit instead of Ethier). Torre is playing the time-honored and time-proven generality that right-hand hitters hit left-hand pitchers better than left-hand hitters do – no manager is going to start JP, Loney, Ethier AND DeWitt against a lefty, unless his hand is really forced. This is a decent way of getting LaRoche’s bat in, keeping Martin’s bat in and giving Martin the day off from catching. Hopefully the potential defensive shortcomings from two guys out of normal position in the infield won’t come back to haunt the boys in blue.

westernmost, you used to be an old fogey! But now that I know you’re about my age, I DEFINITELY won’t call you old fogey! So it looks like you turned 8 in December 1968, right? I turned 8 in June 1969. So you are a bit older than me, but not by much! :)

Joe: They say we’re old and we can’t see
Anything good about walks or OBP.
Juan: Well I don’t care if all that’s true
‘Cause you got me, and baby I got you
Juan: Babe
Both: I got you babe I got you babe

Joe: They say our love won’t win no games
But I don’t care if we go down in flames.
Juan: I guess that’s so, I don’t care either
as long as I get to start instead of Ethier

Juan: Babe
Both: I got you babe I got you babe

Juan: I got 8….point 8 mil, and I put you…. in my will.
Joe: And when I’m sad, you’re a clown
And if I get scared, you’re always around
Joe: So let them say your hat’s too big
‘Cause I don’t care, let them call me pig
Juan: Then put your little hand in mine
There ain’t no hill or mountain we can’t climb

Juan: Babe
Both: I got you babe I got you babe

Juan: I got you to write my name
Joe: I got you to lead the game
Juan: I got you to pull up my socks
Joe: I got you to take me on walks

And if I am still missing anyone else off this list, just make the revisions. Just take my apologies in advance!

Actually, I know I said I was going to sign out (and I will after this post) but I thought you guys and gals would like to know this. I was putting in my fantasy pick for the Dodgers’ Beat the Streak contest. Against John Danks, guess who has a .375 (3 for 8) batting average against this pitcher? Andre Ethier! :) See y’all later…

Here at TimeLife we are offering David Koresh’s Greatest Hits, including: Eternal Flame, Disco Inferno, Light My Fire, Great Balls of Fire, and the classic Make it Hot Hot Hot! This and much, much more in this timeless collection of hits!

Did you know that DeWitt is batting .288 against lefties??? I bet JoJo doesn’t know that! The fact he hit his double off a right-hander who he’s hitting only .262 makes it even more special last night… and means he SHOULD be playing TODAY!! Not that DeWitt couldn’t handle the job at short for a day either.

Had a great time at the game last night but that usually happens especially when we win. We sat in the baseline seats down the right field line. It is neat being so close to the field but the viewing angles are better from the loge section. In any event, it was a good experience and it was a privilege to see Stults pitch a complete game. I do remember when pitching a complete game was the norm but those days are long gone so seeing one is something special. I saw Derrick Lowe’s complete game he pitched at Dodger Stadium two years ago.

westernmost – I am not upset with Ethier and DeWitt being out as much as I am uspset about Pierre being in. I am tired of him being pranced out there every game whether he has a good game or not. Yes, he had his ONE hit yesterday, but so did Ethier and DeWitt, but I guess their approach still wasn’t good enough or they didn’t show up at 6 am to start warming up. As for Martin, he can play anywhere – you won’t get an arguement from me there- he is the captain. I just think Torre needs to try (just try) somebody else in the lead off spot.
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perumike – don’t get me started again – LOL!!!

How about Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire”? Then when they comes and ask, we can say Ned and Joe started it. LMAO!!! Ned/Joe “We asked you not to play Pierre anymore” and “We told you not to mess with “E” and you didn’t listen LMAO!!!

You know we want a revolution
Well you know
We all want to fire Ned
He stalled the teams evolution
Well you know
We’d all like to have his head
But when Frank talks about construction
Don’t you know he’s looking for an out
Not right, Not right

He says he’s got a real solution
Well you know
We don’t love his crazy plans
They never want our contribution
Well you know
It’ really more than we can stand
But if you want more money for tickets,concessions and parking gate
All I can tell you is Frank get a GM that we don’t hate
Sad plight, sad plight

We’d like to change this convolution
Well you know
We all think you’ve lost your head
The Dodgers were an institution
You know you need to fire Ned
But when you sign players that are fat cows
You ain’t going to the playoffs, ain’t no how
Don’t you know its gonna be
A Bite
A Bite
A Bite
A Bite

I’m assuming that Martin is playing 3rd. The most interesting thing to me will be seeing LaRoche at 2nd.
The most important thing, without a doubt is how this lineup will fare against the lefty John Danks.
Six right handed batters is a good start.
LET’S MAKE IT 2 STRAIGHT….GO DODGERS!!!

our soundtrack should be the 199 songs/poems/lists on Dodger Lyrics – incredible work people (especially eric for putting it all in one spot :) and to think that’s just the beginning of a season’s worth of many, many more to come.

People are bloggin, talking ’bout Dodgers
I read one entry, you won’t believe it
It said we’re cultists, crazy as bed bugs
I’d just ignore it, but someone said it
We laugh just a little too loud
We pan Joe a little too much
We can’t stand to see Juan Pierre
Maybe we’re crazy, but what’s for showa, Darlin’
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[chorus]
It gave us something to joke about
It gave us something to joke about
It gave us something to joke about
How about cults?
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We’ve got Karesh, and we’ve got Charley
An Applewhite, but’ve yet to find his Bonnie.
Tammy Faye’s a cryin’ and Patty Hearst too
And Jim Jones mixing a batch Kool Aid for you
Bloggin’ ’bout the D’s every day
Watchin’ JoJo’s line-ups at night
Coping the best way that we can
Hale Bopp, castration, this team is so frustratin’
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Tink gave us something to joke about
A deep end history to laugh out loud
Let’s give him something to talk about
How about cults, cults, cults, cults?
.
[chorus]
Tink gave us something to joke about
A deep end history to laugh out loud
Let’s give him something to talk about
How about cults, cults, cults, cults?
.
[chorus]

Against John Danks, guess who has a .375 (3 for 8) batting average against this pitcher? Andre Ethier! :)
By cpompe1@yahoo.com on June 26, 2008 11:10 AM
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cpompe1 – perhaps you misread something? No Dodger has faced Danks before. P.S. you are exactly right about my age/birth month.

I know I’ll catch heat for this, but Kersh just isn’t ready for the show. Can’t even put a hitter like Ramirez away with two strikes. I think they’re rushing him and he should’ve spent all but September at Jax.

Kershaw is ready to pitch in the majors. Pierre isn’t ready to play any position in the majors. He just cost us a run. Every other Dodger that they could put in left would have thrown him out. Pierre totally sucks as a left fielder. Why in the F*** can’t Joe see that.

I disagree on Kershaw. This kid has started 7 games and could easily have won 5 games with a few runs. The Dodgers have not gotten him any runs when he pitches. I think he needs to be here but keep his innings in check.
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Lets score some freaking runs.

Juan is the crappiest player that you’ll ever see
None can be as bad as Juan
He’s the crappiest player since time begun

Juan is the saddest signing you’ll ever know
Yes, he’s the saddest signing you’ll ever know
`Cause Juan is the crappiest player that you’ll ever see
Juan is the crappiest player, worse than Hu

He’s just not good enough to play every day
Now I spend my time just making rhymes since he can’t play

Juan is the crappiest, Slappy Juan is the crappiest
Slappy Juan is the crappiest player that you’ll ever see
Juan is the crappiest, Juan is the crappiest
Juan is the crappiest player that you’ll ever see
He’s just not good enough to play every day
(Slappy) Juan is the crappiest
(Slappy) Juan is the crappiest
(Slappy) Juan is the crappiest player that you’ll ever see
(Slappy) Juan is the crappiest
(Slappy) Juan is the crappiest
(Slappy) Juan is the crappiest player that you’ll ever see

I don’t understand why anybody would let Berroa swing away with a runner on first and less than two outs. The outcome is so predictable. I guess it’s the same guy letting Berroa swing who sends up Sweeney every game to do the same. Must be IdioTorre!

Boblee – take pierre out/put Ethier in; take Berroa out/put DeWitt in – it’s got to be better than what is out there now. And yes, I realize Pierre got his ONE hit, but still. The bottom of the order for hitting is horrible, and then you have to hope Pierre can hit when it comes back to the top.

Our chance was in the first inning and we blew it.
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Geez, can Pierre? No he can’t. I don’t know why I even ask.
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Some one like Ankiel for St Louis would have throw out the first runner at home today and never allowed that runner to reach third base then.
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Maybe we can trade Pierre for Ankiel

Sometimes I wonder if Pierre’s strange SB tactics mess up pitch counts for the other hitters. I mean I’ve seen Pierre on 1B with a slow delivery right hander pitching, and he doesn’t steal on the first or second pitch. Why frickin not?

Yes, my sister-n-law lives in Dallas. We have driven through a few times. Last time was to go to Carlsbad Caverns (very cool place BTW) about two years ago. It is always one of our stops along the way. We usually go to Dallas using I-10 and come back from Dallas using I-40.

Thanks Danks – for the crummy bunt. Nice play to turn two. Following with a K was nice. Kershaw at 62 pitches, 37 strikes. He should be good for at least one more. But the White Sox got the leadoff hitter on every inning so far, that’s not so good for young Master Kershaw.

Yes, enchanted – not exactly a happening place. We have driven through Las Cruces a couple of times too, but didn’t stop. We did stop in Albequerque on the way back – really beautiful place – hence your name (land of enchantment). I love desert landscape as long as it is not summer – LOL!

This is also my point with Kersh… you know going in that he’s going to give you five innings at best. Why not let him stretch it out in Jax? If we wanted a 5 inning pitcher just give it to Kuo. This leads me to several conclusions:
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1. Kersh’s call-up was to put some butts in the seats. Strictly a PR move.
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2. Management isn’t in this year to win or you wouldn’t put the kid in this positon, nor your bullpen every 5 games. This of course contradicts not letting the other youngsters play everyday but then, it is Ned and JoJo running the show.
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3. They have no idea what they’re doing with young pitchers either.

Scott, they are being very conservative with Kersh and his innings and pitch count because he has never pitched over 130 or so innings in a year. It is a good approach to handle him with kid gloves. Getting him some freaking runs might he a somewhat better approach. LOL.

Just catching glimpses of the game here and there on GameDay while working. Can anyone tell me why Torre didn’t pull a double-switch when he pulled the kid? Other than the usual one, that he’s an incredibly flaming idiot of course.

Yeah, I’m not enamored with the “kid gloves” BS really. Fernando didn’t need it. Edwin Jackson was a converted position player and immature. Kershaw has the mental makeup of a -dare I say- veteran. So, the plan is to keep him rested for when we’re 35 games out in September? As long as Ned is running the show it won’t matter.

Speaking to the choir enchanted, speaking to the choir – it’s the same thing over and over and over -with a day here or there different, but it’s the same. So, it goes back to the question,which has a list of 10 possiblities, what the hell is he doing to get better. How can you show up to the ballpark 6-10 hours before a game to supposedly work on things and still suck! For the time he spends there, we should expect no less than 2/3 or 3/4 and not to mention for umpteenth time his week assed arm – he must be practicing with wiffle balls.

I don’t think calling up Kershaw has anything to do with putting butts in the seats and has everything do do with lack of other options. The one thing the Dodgers have been clear about this year is how they wanted Kershaw to develope. Without all the injuries and other stuff Kershaw would not be here. That being said he has not pitched all the badly and some runs here and there would certainly help. Runs have been hard to come by no matter who is in the lineup.

Anyone had the transmission on their vehicle go out lately? Mine is about to go out on my 89 Camry. I’m figuring it would be better just to get a new or used vehicle instead of getting the tranny fixed.

perumike – thinking the same thing – maybe Torre wanted to see him break another bat over his knee to raise the confidence even more :) I know it didn’t help, but at least it was a much better at bat than last week when he struck out :)

Now all we need is some self absorbed a**hole to come on the blog for the first time in months and tell us we don’t know what we’re talking about or they don’t read or post here anymore because we’re stupid. LOL!!!!

I’ll reapeat this:
It was either wiped out or I put it on the wrong thread.
Angel pronounces his name “ON HILL”
We should start calling him “OFF HILL”
which is pronunced “AWFUL”
We should call him “Awful” Berrora.

Are you listening to Vin – Sweeney can’t even keep a streak going – he broke the consecutive lead off batter reaching a base. Also, I have said this before, I love listening to Vin, but this love for Pierre has got to stop – the guy isn’t even up to bat and he’s talking about him and how wonderful he is at playing this game – we need the article that jungar posted this morning – that’s a more accurate description of Pierre in 2008.

And when Ned finally hits the road.
Our playoff chances in the toilet bowl.
There plays a left fielder we all loathe.
Who really doesn’t belong in the show.
Weak arm and leadoff bat that’s getting old.
And if Joe pulled his head out of his a**.
The realization would come to him at last.
With the old vets and Phew in left.
We’ve got a team that just won’t roll.

You wouldn’t expect the Dodgers to beat the Whitesox when this series began.
I mean they looked awsome, next to our guys.
But now it seems amazing how close we came to beating them.
It looks the same way now as we get ready to face the Angels “ON HILLS?” LOL.
But when you think of these 3 games against the high flying White Sox, you never can tell.
Also remembering we split with the Cubs, another one of the best teams in the game, at least recordwise, you begin to have hope that we’re still in the race..

PierreEW – thanks for making us think about the positives. That is why you are our beloved Pierreseastwest. You are right, we are playing tough teams, but I don’t think most people here are upset that the Dodgers lost, it’s losing with a team that is not the best on the field. That’s what is frustrating. I can handle losing every game as long as Torre and Co put out our best players everyday, with the understanding that players (every player) needs their days off.

I will agree here with E that there is really no valid reason for Kershaw to be with the big club at this stage. I too can see the PR considerations with him being the prime prospect, but what good does it do for his development. When he astounded everybody with his performance in Spring Training, it wasn’t necessarily against full fledged major league competition. He has indeed performed well enough to warrant a couple of wins, had we provided him with any reasonable offense. Unfortunately I don’t see any positive progression in his starts – he obviously has good stuff, but lacks the proper control of his pitches, and his strikeouts are down over the last couple of starts compared to what they were in the beginning. At this stage I think that Kuo is showing better stuff and control of his pitches. We’re obviously limiting Kershaw to so many pitches and exercising control over how many innings he will throw this year. That’s understandable, but I think his development would be better served by another year or so in the minors. The one thing that concerns me is the question of what kind of coaching and tutoring he’s able to get at this major league level. I would assume that a top prospect in the minors has all kind of coaching help and personal attention to his work plan. Does this now fall to Honeycutt?
Sorry, but I have no confidence in Honeycutt to develop anybody. I don’t think he’s done what could have been done with Bills’ development at this stage. Nor do we have any veteran pitchers on the staff whom I would trust to help develop a youngster – i.e. no Maddux or such. I think that Kershaw will eventually be a very good pitcher, but he’s not going to bring this team any championship at this stage; so, he might have developed much better at either Jax or Vegas. Just my humble opinion.

Vin says the white sox as a team have less steals than Juan Pierre. He says they have twice as many homers as the dodgers. Vin says that Pierre in the last 20 or so games has led off the game with a hit but only scored 5 times. Vin says the Sox are 42-35 and the dodgers are 36-41

Although I tend to agree with you bear, and you too, e, about the apparent lack of competent coaching for Kershaw, I think that as long as he’s not getting frustrated up here that we should keep him up. His innings are going to be limited no matter where he is, right? He’s not damaging the Dodger’s pennant hopes, right? Kuo might be the better pitcher right now, but they’re afraid of blowing out his arm. I think you’ll see Pierre on the bench before Kuo goes into the rotation on a regular basis.

I’ve always been one who says that managing and coaching get too much credit when the team wins and too much blame when they lose. However, I’ve seen nothing positive from Torre, Honeycutt or Easler.

Good afternoon boys and girls,
Still couldn’t hit for Kersh. Too bad; I feel sorry for the kid.

jungar, that was an article that just spoke volumes; thanks!

On dodgers.com, there is a new article called, “Dodgers to go to six-man rotation.” Interested in what that article said, I took a gander. I guess Torre was asked something to the effect of why a six-man rotation? Here is the last part of the article:
As for the six-man rotation, Torre joked that the alternative of not letting Stults start again posed a threat to the manager’s security, professionally and otherwise. (Torre said), “You want to get me fired and killed at the same time?”

westernmost,
Interesting. I just looked back at the Dodgers’ Beat the Streak contest where I got that 3 for 8 for Ethier against John Danks. It’s still there?!? I don’t know, perhaps Ethier batted against him from the A’s farm system and it somehow got here? I don’t know. Let it be said, I’m not a statistician! :)

Interesting statistic – same goes for tomorrow, and that Torre did see – I even saw Ethier hit a homerun off Saunders who is a lefty. This was back in Kemp sitting days – Pierre and Andruw were in left and center.
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I am going to highschool ball – will be back later with a song :) Have fun and behave :)
from dnelson, nelly, nells, miss debbie and now tammy (without mascara) LOL!! oh and den mother LOL!!

Torre probably promptly took Kent aside and reassured him that “looking for a little offense” in no way referred disparagingly to him (Kent), but only meant that LaRoche could provide more than Kent’s usual replacement Maza.

Actually I’m just trying to moderate my rhetoric, kind of like trying to follow piereEW’s example. I’m sure that by the end of the week I’ll be off the wagon again and yelling for Ned’s head and Torre’s balls.

Kent’s not going anywhere and Joe just meant more offense on his days off. Actually, Kent would have probably have gotten at least one of those runs in from 3rd today. The kids, even Marty today, don’t have a clue about situational hitting. Ethier and DeWitt are further along than Kemp for sure and probably Loney. Martin is usually good at it. But, hey, that is what we wanted. They are all still extremely young and it takes time. Good things are on the horizon if they don’t let Ned near the controls to make stupid trades or sign stupid FA contracts.

Without Ferk, Kent in the lineup seems to take some of the pressure off the kids, regardless of what he does. I am not crazy about him but I think he may have made a big difference today. Phew is just Phew, I don’t think the kids have much regard for him. Nomore if he can stay healthy may help to take some pressure off the kids. Plus, geez, if he gets a couple of hits a week it would be more offense at short than we’ve seen since Ferk went down. LOL!!!

You’re probably right Jungar. I’d like to see his #’s with runners at 3rd and less than 2 out. Seems that is where he has picked up some of his rbi’s that make his stats look better than they are. I do agree, however, this is what we wanted and I am OK with it.

Personally I think that young Clayton is trying to do too good a job at locating his fastball while putting as much on it as possible. When he does this he loses control of the fastball and ends up throwing too many pitches outside the strike zone. I also feel that he’s not relying on his fielders as much as he should because he’s not used to having the best glovesmen behind him. Part of what made Stults so successful last night was his ability to mix the speed of his fastball and keep it in the strike zone while mixing in his changeup, and keeping both pitches in the zone. Clayton isn’t pitching right now and appears more to be just throwing the ball. And I’m sorry to say this, but if this keeps up, he could be in a world of mental grief in no time flat… so I hope somebody takes him under their wing and tells him the fact of life about pitching in the big leagues real quickly… ’cause whatever he’s doing isn’t working… and it’s getting worse.

Kid needs to focus on throwing strikes, mixing his speeds and pitches while relying on his fielders. As Kevin Kennedy would say, “pitch to contact”. He’s not doing that right now and his pitch count suffers because of it.

We have been accused of being a cult..
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Many of you are already in the cult. Sign me up for Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Rolls Royces and sex guru). So let’s have a little definition of exactly what is entailed in this cult of ours.
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Introducing “The Cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty”
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Apologies to Living Color, “The Cult of Personality” Some of you know the tune
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Andre Ethier and James Loney
Cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
We all have anger, we all have dreams
In Eighty-Eight we won the World Series
We’re the cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
Like Applewhite, Jim Jones and Tammy
We’re the cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
Cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
Cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
.
Hitting machine, Delwin Young,
Twenty year old fireballer Clayton
Hu will shoot the ball to Andy
Only Blake can set us free
Russell’s act is the way to be
Kemp and Broxton we watch on t.v.
We’re the cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
I opine and still you read me
.
I tell you Wade and May make three
We’re the cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
Like David Koresh and Patty
We’re the cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
Cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
Cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
.
Ethan Martin, Greg Miller
James McDonald, Paul Xavier
You dont have to answer me
Only Meloan will set us free
.
L Ron Hubbard,
Charlie Manson,
You gave us power by calling us a cultWe’re every leader we need to be
We’re the cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
Look into our stats, what do you sing?
Cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
We all have anger, we all have dreams
In eighty-eight we won the World Series
We’re the cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
Like Applewhite, Jim Jones and Tammy
We’re the cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
Cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
Cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
.
Hitting machine, Delwin Young,
Twenty year old fireballer Clayton
Hu will shoot the ball to Andy
Only Blake can set us free
Russell’s act is the way to be
Kemp and Broxton we watch on t.v.
We’re the cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
I opine and still you read me
.
I tell you Wade and May make three
We’re the cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
Like David Koresh and Patty
We’re the cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
Cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
Cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty
.
Ethan Martin, Greg Miller
James McDonald, Paul Xavier
You dont have to answer me
Only Meloan will set us free
.
L Ron Hubbard,
Charlie Manson,
You gave us power by calling us a cult
We’re every leader we need to be
We’re the cult of Dodgers’ Dynasty

No one’s ever accused Honeycutt of being a good pitching coach. Perhaps another reason to send Kersh back down. I think what we saw as well last night and today is the difference between Stults being 28 and Kersh being 20.

Another thing. Give Kent his shot at a ring. In fact, clean house of the rest of the PVLs – Lowe, Penny, Phew, Sweeney, Berroa and gasp! even Saito while you can get something for him (and we’ve got to know if Brox has the make-up of a closer anyway.) Fire Ned. Fire Joe. Then whomever takes over can start with a clean slate, no PVL contracts dragging them down, a fistful of prospects with whom you can make some equitable deals with, and a hand picked manager that is right for the team.

Good write up on the game we lost today. Comparing Fernado and Koufax to Clay. The formers were on a decent team, not like this group. I agree ..clean house… keep Loney, Kemp, Martin, DeWitt.. all the pitchers ( on any other team each would a winner). The rest send packing. By the way Kent is fine. He is a true player. Maybe he doesn’t fit the LA image of surf and dolls… But this is baseball. Do we have anybody better?

Maybe in Ned’s closed door meeting they reached a consensus that winning this year isn’t feasible. “He’s more important than what our situation is” doesn’t sound like an organization going all out to win. Almost gives me a ray of hope…

From the LA Times (I didn’t see it posted anywhere else on this thread)

Good not to see you

With left-hander John Danks starting for the White Sox and Andre Ethier hitting .164 against left-handers, Torre elected to sit Ethier on Thursday — much to Danks’ delight.

“Fortunately, Andre Ethier wasn’t in there,” said Danks, who pitched six scoreless innings. “He owned me all the way down to the minor leagues. I was definitely excited to see that.”

Isn’t it a manager’s job to know this? Torre has said he thinks that Andre’s recent issues with lefties are temporary, and I agree, so wouldn’t this game have been a perfect one to give him a start against one since part of the problem at this point is likely a confidence issue?

That is really very apt, bluecrewgirl, but a manager who doesn’t know that one of his starting pitchers has been regularly visiting the medical trainers and has been having issues with his pitching arm isn’t likely to look at stats to see that Ethier has been hitting Danks pretty well. My take is that Torre just took this job as his pre-retirement, and he isn’t sweating anything.

Houston has a better record than the Dodgers by one game and they are 12 games behind the Cubs. San Diego is in last place and they are only 8 1/2 games out. I know we’ve said it many times, but the Dodgers are very lucky to be in the National League West.

blewcruegirl – thanks for the article. I have google alerts for Ethier and I had read similar articles already, but not that one. UGGGGGHHHHH!!! Sad, but definitely not surprising. Like I said, it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow against Saunders. He can hit off him too, and once again- lefty.
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still working on song – was playing Ping Pong and pool with my family in the game room. :)

I am so tired of the Dodgers lack of offense. Where is the accountability? Once again the pitching was there but once again the offense was impotent. Matt Kemp batting second? come on Torre even I know that u do not put a guy who has struck out over 70 times and has less than 10 home runs at that batting rotation. We need leadership(duh) on this ball club, a better approach to the plate. We need leaders to get in the FACE of these young ***** cats who are fat and happy with their current spot on the team. Oh yeah I forgot that Jeff Kent tried that last year and it got Grady Little fired. I am a die hard fan as most of u are but I am so tired of getting beat by a bad approach to the game. I blame Colletti for not being aggressive on going to get true proven veterans where someone can get in the face of these young ***** cats and to tell them how the game should be played and approached. Fat & Happy is what I see on this years ball club. “If we lose it’s not the end of the world” Thats a B.S. approach and that’s how I see the Dodgers demeanor day in and day out. U should play the game like it’s going to be your last. I am so fed up. We are so lucky that we don’t play in a different division. Torre can not and will not get in the face of these young ***** cats case that has never been his style. Wherever he has managed he has always had a team with proven veterans except for now cause no body backed up Kent last year when he off on the young pussycats. Kent is probably telling himself ” I came back for this?

You certainly have the right to your opinion, trueblue, but I personally think it’s the veterans on this team that have the attitude problems, not the kids. For example, Ethier worked his butt off during the off season, twice a day six days a week and Kemp lost 25 lbs. in the off season. Jones came in fat and out of shape making 18 million a year. Penny also looks out of shape this season. It seems like the players who have only been up a few years care more to me.

I think the problem with the kids is a total lack of mentoring from both the coaching staff and the veterans. There is no veteran on the team that has the leadership personality to mentor the younger players. It was the same way last year. They haven’t had a decent batting coach in a long time. I think if Mattingly had been able to take the position he was supposed to they would have a much better approach at the plate. There is no Tommy to give not just the kids, but the veterans, a pep talk when they need it or to shake things up by coaching third base for a few games like he used to, or to give one of his fiery pregame or post game speaches. I was really excited for Torre to come here, but so far I agree with messagebear, it seems like he’s enjoying kickng back in LA without the pressure of the New York media. I for one am really excited about what the long term future holds if they stick with the young talent. Steve Garvey was quoted as saying they need to be patient with it and that it takes longer than the time most of them have been up to really understand the game. I agree with him.

I thought this was a Dodgers Blog? My bad. Lets talk about Dr. Phil or something does NOT pertain to the Dodgers. Typical nonchalant dodger fans blogging about issues that do even pertain to this team. It’s a microcosm of this years team. Call me old fashion but I am not even close to being old. I guess I am just to passionate and over the top when it comes to my team. I should of been a Yankee’s fan. (No freaking way)

jhall – I have a couple more verses – it’s one of those without repeating verses so it’s taking longer than I thought – unfamiliar territory!
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bluecrewgirl – one word for you (joey) He’s not worth your time. Just to add to off season conditioning – Andre rock climbs!!! He just didn’t sit around eating donuts all off season – the guy rock climbs!! :)

Yes, I did hear him talking on Dodger Talk about joining the rock climbing club with his brother and what a great workout it was. Some of the yoga teachers where I take yoga do that on the side. If I understood Andre correctly, it’s not the real outdoor rock climbing, but on a simulated “mountain” in a club, correct? That’s supposed to be enough of a workout, but if he meant the real rock climbing where you stick the pick in the side of a mountain, then my hat’s really off to him. I would be too scared to do that kind of rock climbing.

It’s all about timely hitting dnelly_ and I do agree that the kids have above average batting averages this year but when the game is on the line the Dodgers are something like 0-23 when they score less than 2 runs in a game. Thats awful. I do agree that the batting coach will get the ax before the year is over ( Lee Lacy) who was a very good hitter back in the day. Mattingly or not the kids as do do the whole ball club have to have a sense of urgency and I just don’ I see that. I realize that there is still a lot of ball to play but watching the Dodgers day in and day gives me little hope for the near future. I have been patient since 1988 baby. As for Brad Penny I do agree with you, he is TOTALLY out of shape but once again where is the accountability? If he is New York they would of made so many FAT jokes about him in the media and rightfully so. Fat and happy.

I so disagree with u on your last comment d_nelly. I hope I am wrong on this one though. Like I said I have been waiting for a winner since 1988. In order to be a winner u have to surround yourself with players who have been there.

bluecrewgirl – I’m not sure if it’s similated rock climbing or not, but I will look into it. Like you said, either one is great!! All I know is he did an awful lot of conditioning and training before spring training because he knew he was going to have to win that position in left field and he did, and now he is getting screwed!! He never lost his job, it was given away – there’s a big difference in book :)
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jhall – LOL!!! trying to get done with song :)

truebluebum, I think you were responding to my post and I will just say one more thing to your comment that you disagree with my statement that they need to be patient and stick with the youth. In the Garvey, Cey, etc. era, none of them had been there before. They grew up together and figured out how to win together. I guess we’ll just agree to disagree and leave it at that. ):

Maybe it’s easier for me to be a little patient because they have won 2 World Series in my lifetime.

BlueBum. Thus far Ned’s veteran players “who have been there” acquisitions have either failed to produce miserably or are always injured and on the DL. Ned has shown that he is not capable of evaluating talent, therefore it is not a good idea to let him fritter away the young talent and the future of the team to try and acquire players who have been there to try and win this year.

Thanks bluecrew – I thought I was missing something I said – well, I know what I said, and it wasn’t that :)
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jhall – I keep getting distracted – sorry – almost – lol!! a little frustrated with the Ethier thing – can you tell? LOL!!!
where’s eric?

jhall – I am proud of Grady’s team for beating the gnats – Yeah Indians!!!!! I actually get to go to A’s/gnats game Sunday – in Oakland, thank heavens. :)
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go to bed if you need to – it’s late in Cleveland :)

So are you happy with the fact we are 6 games under 500? Where is the accountability Jhall? We have to spend money to make money? I am not insinuating that we do a “fire sale” but Colletti’s mis handling of the free agent market has led us to this. Juan Pierre? Jason Schmidt? Andruw Jones? Proctor? Angel Berrera? Come on. All that I am saying is lets get more productive when there is 2 outs or 2 strikes on the books. Lets have a better approach at the plate and that starts with the hitting and so on I mean Russell Martin swung at the first pitch that he saw in the first inning with 2 runners on and no one one out and popped up. I LOVE Martin but that was a BAD approach in that situation. We lost 2-0 today and we left people on base so many times. It gets old after a while.

Today’s loss was very frustrating and it has been a pattern. Ned Colletti needs to be held accountable for the incredibly bad trades and FA signings and the current state of the team. Unfortunately, it takes time for the kids to learn situational hitting. There is a fairly long learning curve to becoming a good hitter in the major leagues. Sounds like we agree that Ned has bungled his part of the bargain. Most of our young kids already see more pitches per AB than our vets that aren’t injured, Phew and Kent. So they are learning. We certainly had a chance to win the game today and unfortunately, the kids didn’t get it done. Marty is usually much better than he displayed today. It is going to be a long year as the kids grow and get experience. Hopefully, it will translate into a very good team in the future. I just don’t see this team as a legitimate playoff team this year or a team that 1 or 2 acquisitions will get over the top. So play the kids and let them get the experience and we can make some informed decisions this off season or next year instead of rash, quick fix panic moves which very rarely work and are the reason we are stuck with the team as it is right now.

I know this is going to come off as a “girl thing”,but I am going to work on proving it too. Marty seems to have bad games when he doesn’t have the best team out on the field. It goes back to the chemistry thing. I am sure he was happy about playing period, but if given the chance I think he would prefer to catch, and he should have for Kershaw – he deserved to have Marty behind the plate (not saying Danny isn’t good, but he’s not Martin). That being said, Russell is a different player when “his” team is not on the field – Ethier being one of them. That play in left field today would not have happened that way if it were Andre out there; Andre would have come up throwing that ball to home and it would have been done (I know hindsight). Marty knows the team too well and knows their weaknesses and he had a weak team out there today and whether he was at 3rd or catching – he is still that team’s captain. The vets do not provide any team chemistry – they do not help, they only put down – they do not lead, they do what they wish. These things equal bad chemistry and this team is struggling to find itself through a management team that sucks!! Sorry – still mad about the Ethier thing – Joe Torre and Co really are idiots, and I hope they see this comment by the White sox pitcher. I hope Andre sees it too. UUGGHHH!!!

Cool article Nelly. Also, I tend to agree with you about the team chemistry issue. I think he tries to do too much when he perceives a weaker lineup and not stay within himself and play his game.
Catch you in the AM, I’m going to call it a night. Let’s whip on the Angels this weekend..
Goodnight.

Not sure if this has been posted but this came from Ken Rosenthal’s article tonight…

It’s the time of the year to be creative, and one GM offers this trade concept: Outfielder Adam Dunn to the Dodgers for outfielder Juan Pierre and shortstop Chin-lung Hu, with the Dodgers contributing enough money to knock down Pierre’s average salary through 2011 from $8.8 million to, say, $6 million.

We need a series against a good team to turn this season around. A good start would be to beat a pitcher like Saunders tonight and sweep the Angels, bench Slappy, get Furcal back, keep Stults even when Penny and Kuroda come back and let Stults pitch every 5 days.
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Oh, and get rid of Torre And Ned and get a clean restart. Won’t happen but is a nice thought.

Good Morning Dodger Blue Fans!!
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The Eagles are one of my favorite classic groups, and Joe Walsh is one of my favorites from the group. Plus, in college, one of my good friend’s gave me one of his guitar picks. I added a couple of verses to get as many names in the song as I could. Sorry if you are not in the song. With the length of the guitar solo, there would be plenty of room for more verses anyway.
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Song: Life’s Been Dodger Blue
Original Song: Life’s Been Good
By: Joe Walsh
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***Classic Joe Walsh guitar intro ***
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Inside The Dodgers, A cult with a vice
Ain’t never been here, we’ll give you advice
Eric blogs here with jhall and “E”
Always writing songs with our favorite Juanpy
They say we’re crazy, but we have a good time
We’re just looking for ways to spend our off time
Life’s been Dodger Blue too long
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Dodger Blue is the fun part of life
Bear,jungar, crash and kahliforni
They have a knack of giving it back
They don’t like it
When “our boys” are attacked
CP, sara, emma, blue and dnels
They know their baseball,
And which guys looks great!
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So we got scott and redfox,
Old fogey and fliegel
They’ll post a message,
And give Ned some hell
Lucky we’re sane after all we’ve been through
We shouldn’t complain, but we definitely do
Life’s been Dodger Blue too long
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*** more Joe Walsh guitar***
*** more Joe Walsh guitar***
*** more Joe Walsh guitar***
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Dodger blue is ready for youth
MLK, jnv, Boblee and nsblue
They can tell Joe what he can do
If he keeps playing this vet we call Phew
Perumike, seesky and Kace
They’ll post a message, “Joe’s a disgrace”
We’re Lucky we’re sane after all we’ve been through
We shouldn’t complain, but we definitely do
Life’s been Dodger Blue too long
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Dodger blue is the fun part of life
PierreEW and Ndeschenes
They have the talk of keeping things light
Reminding us that things will be alright
Dodgerboy, max, and dodge16
They’ll post a message,”What’s with this team?”
We’re lucky we’re sane after all we’ve been through
We shouldn’t complain, but we definitely do
Life’s been Dodger Blue too long
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We have on-line parties sometimes until 4
It’s hard to leave when you’re crying for more
It’s tough to handle some Dodger blue games
Every lineups so different, Why has it changed?
They say we’re crazy and it takes all our time
We keep on going guess we’ll never know why
Life’s been Dodger Blue so long
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***Joe Walsh guitar to fade***

I agree with trueblue in that the kids need a better approach at the plate, but only two things will accomplish that: 1. playing time and 2. PROPER coaching. I really thought that Easler would be “The Man” since he brought them up through the minors, but either he no longer gets through to them, or Torre’s changed the mandate approach. Either way, most of them have seemingly regressed in their skillset. I also believe a lot of that can be attributed directly to Torre’s schuffling of the line-up and irregular benchings for no reason. It also doesn’t help when you have PVLs that don’t lead nor relate to the kids in a constructive way.

Nells – that Torre article is the defining moment of the season. We all know definitively now that JoJo has no grasp about anything concerning this team. We all knew he doesn’t look at stats anyway, nor pay attention if he does because there’s no logical reason to keep trotting the likes of Pierre and Sweeney out there every single friggin day.

This season is such a mess that even if the D’s did somehow pull it together enough to win the west, they’d be three and out as usual. I don’t think that’s what most of us want. I’m willing to be frustrated watching this team night after night if there’s a light at the end. But that light has to have two elements before one can even think of stepping through it – Firing Ned and JoJo. Do that now and 2009 becomes viable. Don’t do it at all and MAYBE 2010-11 is viable because it’ll take the kids an extra two years (at least) to fully develop under the current regime.

This thread is getting long. I particularly enjoyed nelly’s, jhall’s, bluegirls’s and also truebluebums’ insights. It’s also interesting to note what’s happening with the very young D’Back’s team this season – meaning the inconsistency. They’re obviously having some of the same problems with their young everyday players. I’m all in favor of using this year to let all of our young players show what they can do. For instance, Hu has already shown me that he’s not ready for major league pitching, and Stults is showing that this may be his year to join the bigs, because he’s figured out what it takes. It’s time for LaRoche to show what he’s got, but they’ll have to give him a chance to play more than just occasionally. I think it would be really against the odds to expect that every youngster we have on the big ballclub now will become a good major league ballplayer. Somebody should probably get traded to provide us with a better balance for the overall team, and I agree up front that the balance would be better served if we could also shed Pierre from the makeup. My problem with making any trade decisions is the totally abysmal record that Ned has in that regard. I would still hope that once this season is over if not sooner, Ned will be fired. If Logan White were to do the assessment of talent available, I would trust him to make some trades, including some of our young talent, but Ned definitely NOT.

his thread is getting long. I particularly enjoyed nelly’s, jhall’s, bluegirls’s and also truebluebums’ insights. It’s also interesting to note what’s happening with the very young D’Back’s team this season – meaning the inconsistency. They’re obviously having some of the same problems with their young everyday players. I’m all in favor of using this year to let all of our young players show what they can do. For instance, Hu has already shown me that he’s not ready for major league pitching, and Stults is showing that this may be his year to join the bigs, because he’s figured out what it takes. It’s time for LaRoche to show what he’s got, but they’ll have to give him a chance to play more than just occasionally. I think it would be really against the odds to expect that every youngster we have on the big ballclub now will become a good major league ballplayer. Somebody should probably get traded to provide us with a better balance for the overall team, and I agree up front that the balance would be better served if we could also shed Pierre from the makeup. My problem with making any trade decisions is the totally abysmal record that Ned has in that regard. I would still hope that once this season is over or even sooner, Ned will be fired. If Logan White were to do the assessment of talent available, I would trust him to make some trades, including some of our young talent, but Ned definitely NOT.

E, also good points. Sure hope the Dunn for Phew and Hu rumor is for real. I would do it in a heartbeat. Unloading Phew is right up there with firing Ned on my wish list and what I believe needs to be done to make this team better. Dunn is a free agent and we would not be obligated to keep him. I guess it would depend on what Fat Andruw does in the 2nd half of the season. However, if it makes Phew go away, I am all for it.

I also want to see how the kids do if we get Ferk, Nomore and Jones back for any length of time before I think its time to start looking with a critical eye on their performance and start evaluating if they’re the ones for the position. Up to now with no real vet leaders and no guidance, they’re doing the best they can learning for themselves.

Any team that has Juan Pierre as their left fielder deserves to lose! Also, so what if this team is right behind the Dbacks? If they made it to the post season they would be eliminated 3 and out, and probably shut out every game. Change management and get a baseball GM, not a PR guy who’s trying to put a good spin on every stupid thing he’s done. Frank must be a moron if he keeps Ned in charge, or he just cares about making more money by raising prices again.

Morning, all. Missed a hell of a game last night, I see. At least Derek Lowe can take some solace in knowing that the offense doesn’t exclusively hate him. At least the songs were awesome, dnel’s cult anthem, jhall tackling both Beatles AND Zeppelin, enchanted’s Bonnie Raitt cover, cp’s from the last thread, crash24 rocking Living Color and Scott taking on, among others, Frankie Valli. Some say that the best songwriters tend to draw from traumatic experiences in their lives. There are waaaaay worse fates in the world, but being a DieHard Dodger fan over the last 20 years has been far from a cakewalk.

About the Danks comment, I wonder if Andre said anything about his record against Danksy Mathewson. If he did, probably fell on deaf ears. “Yeah yeah, great, kid. Just sit down, shut up and eat your Flinstone Vitamins. The grown-ups are talking.”

Good morning Dodger loyalist. I so agree with a lot of the comments on Andre Ethier and Juan Pierre. Just cause we are paying JP a staggering 11 mil a year does not mean that he has to play every freaking game. And why put him at lead off? put him at the bottom of the line up. Martin, Ethier would be great at lead off until Furcal comes back. Go Dodgers!!!! Lets kick some Anaheim A@# tonite.

good morning again!!
Thanks for the kudos on the song – hardest one I’ve done so far and mixed in with all this Andre drama made it a very long night – LOL!!!
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Great job on all the comments!! Hopefully a piano is getting ready to fall – LOL!!

truebluebum raises a good point that it is important which veterans you pick to fill in the holes on the team and how they complement with the core developed players. One simply needs to compare the great Dodger teams of the 70s to today.
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Jimmy Wynn (not Andruw Jones [fat version]), Reggie Smith (not Juan Pierre), Dusty Baker (not Luis Gonzalez), Andy Messersmith (not Brett Tomko), Burt Hooton (not Esteban Loaiza), Jerry Reuss (not Mark Hendrickson), …… everyone gets the picture. Oh, and better to let them go one year too early (Garvey, et al.) or on time (Wynn), than one year too late (Kent maybe, Nomar).
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The two players that Colletti acquired/re-signed that seem to have the veteran leadership skills are Furcal, who has unfortunately turned out to be injury-prone, and Maddux (not re-signed). Who else? Sourpuss Luis Gonzalez!?!? Jeff Kent (look – he’s a good player, until this year, but he’s effective only when he can play and sit in the corner with his motorcycle magazine and let real leaders lead)?, the fragile Ming vase named Nomar? Fat and out-of-shape Andruw Jones?

I’m afraid we have to root for a 3 game embarrassing shellacking by the Angels to accomplish our goals. As hard as it is to admit, we all know the Angels totally out class the Dodgers these days in every facet save tradition and lead announcer.

thanks jhall!! LOL!!! It was nice to see Lee and the Indians hand it to the gnats last night. It was all over the radio station here. I guess the gnats didn’t get home until 4:30 this morning due to weather so hopefully the A’s will take advantage of that and let them have it. :)

Generally a team has to have a very solid foundation from the farm system to build upon so they only need to add 1 or 2 missing pieces. Usually a really good pitcher and hitter. I can’t think of a team that goes out and tries to get 4 or 5 players to get them to the promised land except maybe the Yankees. They even had a pretty good young foundation to start with. But no team has their resources to be able to go out and get 3 or 4 of the best players. It does come down to developing that foundation and then adding the right pieces whatever they may be. Ned has not demonstrated the ability to accurately evaluate who he acquires and has screwed up royally. We have the young talent to develop the foundation but it is too soon to know what pieces we are going to need going forward. Also, I do not trust Ned to make the right choices when that time comes. Someone pointed out earlier that all of our young prospects will not become good/great players and that is so true. Another reason we need to take this time to see what we’ve got before we go off half cocked and make bad or uninformed decisions. This is my biggest fear right now with our team mainly because Ned just doesn’t have what it takes.

“Someone pointed out earlier that all of our young prospects will not become good/great players and that is so true.” -jhall1218
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Which is exactly why I wouldn’t trade either of the young shortstops, Hu and De Jesus. Since no one knows what the future holds regarding Furcal, you have to keep both and see how they develop. Besides, you’ve seen what the next options are after that – Berroa and Maza.
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I feel the need to restate something y’all complained about in yesterday’s game. 2-for-1 with Kemp (due up 8th) was IDIOCY. Down two with two to go and Torre pulls the RBI leader with home run power? He could easily have come up in the 9th as the tying or go-ahead run. Who was due up 8th and 7th? Pierre and Maza (D Young could have moved to 2B)! Put the pitcher in one of those spots!

jhall – wonderful points you are making – it still amazes me how this management team is not seeing how idiotic they are becoming. They have a dynasty sitting write in front of them and they don’t even know it. It reminds me of that V8 commercial – somebody needs to go and smack them upside the head and tell them – LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE YOU IDIOTS!!!

It’s your long-lost buddy Charley……..got some new ink. I tatooed a swastika on my face to match the one on my forehead……..

If you haven’t checked our musical site lately, like in the last few hours, you might notice a change. I decided that there was so much info that it was virtually impossible to find anything. The blog has a way of filtering, but I had to go back and tag all 196 songs (to that point) so that we could find them. I tagged each song with the author (us, not them) and the musical group. The tags are on the right side under “Tag Cloud”. Click on one and the site filters the ones tagged with that particular moniker.

Unfortunately, there is a limit to the amount of tags. It seems to be about 25. By the time I was finished, there were over 90 of them. It lists them alphabetically, so the only ones showing were A thru D. If we couldn’t have both, I decided I’d rather be able to search by names. I left a couple of artists on there, the ones who had been done the most times.

If anyone is interested, as of right now there are 204 songs archived. To no one’s surprise, enchanted is the leader with 54 of them. Nelly isn’t too far behind with 42.

Again, my searches are bound to be very incomplete. I was scrolling up and down these threads fairly quickly looking for the tell-tale signs of songs, so I’m sure I missed some. If you know that I missed something that should be in there, let me know where they are (date and time). I’ll go back and get them in.

Also, if you have any ideas on how to make it better, let me know that, too. I don’t know how much more time I can devote to this, but I’ll give it my best effort to keep it up to date. Right now there’s a bit of a lull for me, so I took advantage to get it started. Enjoy it!

FOR A SLUGGER NED OUR OFFENSE SUCKS DONT GO FOR ANY PITCHING WERE FINE WITH THAT GO GET A SLUGGER PLEASE THATS ALL WE NEED WHEN FURCAL COMES BACK AND WE TRADE FOR A SLUGGER WE WILL BE IN GOOD SHAPE BUT RIGHT NOW WE NEED A BIG BAT!!!!

Eric, thanks for adding me to the tag cloud. I promise to add some more songs to be worthy of being present on your blog. If only you guys spoke Spanish, I could open this blog up to new horizons with Spanish music. If you guys have any Spanish songs you like, feel free to make requests.

I’ll work on some crossovers a little later today. Shakira is one of my favorites both due to her music and her hips not lying. Hey, if DNelly (Tammy) can have Ethier and Sizemore, I can have Shakira! :)

I hear she’s taken Scott.
By perumike@msn.com on June 27, 2008 11:45 AM
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Kim Ng?
By scott@whittiermailing.com on June 27, 2008 11:48 AM
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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I hear she might be taken soon too……by the Seattle Mariners.

I was wondering why JP didn’t bunt Maza to second in the 7th with Kemp (RBI leader and 1-1 with 2 BB) up next.
By scott@whittiermailing.com on June 27, 2008 10:20 AM
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scott – I don’t think too many manager would do that with one out, except with the pitcher. But it occurs to me that after Maza’s leadoff single, instead of sending up Ethier against a LH reliever (when Torre did want to start him against a LHP), why not send up a pitcher to bunt Maza to 2nd with no outs and hope one of Pierre or Kemp gets at least a single? I know they were down two, but playing for one run with the bottom of the lineup hitters (including JP), isn’t a terrible idea with two more innings still to come.

Yeah, kind of thinking along the same line really. They needed to make something happen somehow but just played it straight up as usual. Pierre already had his one hit for the game so I wasn’t exactly expecting a triple, you know? Maybe a drag bunt attempt would have been nice, with all of that “blazing” speed in the box. At least if Raffy was healthy, we could’ve even hoped for a bomb at that point, but with JP, not much to hope for.

Juan Pierre is a joke all by himself, but the real problem is 1) Ned Colletti, and 2) Joe Torre. I expected more from Torre only to find out that he’s more senile than Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy from Sponge Bob.

You know jhall, I love this team; always have, always will – and no matter what the score is and no matter where the D’s stand in the division. And I know we have ALL said this, but I am so tired of JP leading off. That pathetic attempt at the throw by JP in yesterday’s game was just that, pathetic. I saw before that “rumor” of JP and Hu for Dunn. Heck, I’d do that in a heartbeat. I’m not a Dunn fan; too many strikeouts for my taste and he also plays a lousy LF. But if getting Dunn means getting rid of JP, I’m all for it; at least we’d get some HRs out of the bargain. But knowing this organization, that probably wouldn’t happen. For all we know, some fan just made that up and it’s nothing close to the truth. I just want JP out of here.

Berroa is a joke aswell. I like watching Hu over Berroa.
Hope they can stick Nomar at short Stop.
I still think back to spring training when the we had the appourtunity to pick up A-Rod. We would be a way better offensive team.

cpompe- dont say that!! Andre’s guna play!! I’m keeping my fingers crossed.. wasn’t last night embarrassing enough for Torre? Hell hasn’t the whole season been a slap in the face.. well maybe not since he hasn’t done much to improve the team. JOE TORRE is OVERRATED. he shoulda stayed outta LA….

scott, yeah we could use Repko’s energy. I’ve ALWAYS loved Repko, but he’s a liability because he can’t stay away from injuring himself. But I love Repko’s play. I may get booed for this but I like Repko in CF instead of Kemp in CF. Repko is a much more disciplined hitter than Kemp. But I would hat to depend on Repko and the possibility of him hurting himself and/or others (like Raffy last year) and then see Kemp flourish elsewhere.

carcyn – I would’ve loved to see A-Rod in blue, but I’m still of the opinion that it was all a sham on the part of the Yankees to steal some of the Sox thunder. If you’ll recall, A-Rod announced his free agency immediately after the game ended crowning the Sox champs. A-Rod got about as much coverage as the Sox did. Then the whole thing with Boras getting fired… the D’s never had a chance because he truely never was, nor was ever going to be, a real FA.

iheartaethier16 – I was soooo excited when they announced that Torre was going to be our manager, but to say that I’m disappointed thus far is the grossest understatement I could ever make! I have a hard time believing that he knows what he’s doing by parading JP out there day in and day out, not knowing what’s going on with his players’ health issues, etc. And yes, I still say FIRE STAN CONTE!!!!!!!! But even Conte may not be the entire problem. Bottom line, it’s Torre’s job to know these things about his players.

Believe me, I take no pleasure in saying this and I don’t mean to say, “I told you so” but before y’all were talking before about Ethier hitting Danks. It was easy, super easy for ME to find out. If I could find out, Torre should have known that Ethier hit the cover off the ball against Danks in the minors.

Again, I’ll continue to watch and have my opinions but I’ll believe it when I see it (good and thoughtful moves by the GM and/or our field manager). Not sure if that’ll happen.

Good afternoon fellow cultist , it’s your den mother (Tammy minus the mascara) back from a very hot and smoky day of baseball in central california –
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trying to read what’s been posted. What do I have 42 of?
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eric – love the tag clouds – saw them last night when I was finishing my morning song. Also, I was able to download mobile version on my phone – so very cool!!!!!
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I saw predictions on lineups – Andre might play today – he hit homerun off Saunders last time they met, but then again – Joe doesn’t look at stats, does he? uugghhh!!

so dnel,
This may have come up before, but since messagebear posted that list of posters and their cities/states, I’ve noticed a few new regular posters (iheartaethier16, bluecrewgirl). Do we know where they live?

He pitched beautifully. We went yesterday because he was supposed to pitch with JV team. He pitched one inning – 3 up, 3 down, and then coach told him he’s pulling him and they sent him with Varsity today. It was a double header- he pitched the first 5 innings of the first game – had 7 K’s and 1 hit 2BB and 1 HBP, and when he left the game we were winning 2-1. The other team was huge – 1st baseman was 6’4″ and there were 2 others just like him (Michael is only 5′ 10 and only 14). We ended losing first game 3-2 (closer couldn’t close) 2nd game played outfield (better than Pierre – can actually throw ball to home when needed) They lost that game 4-3. Great day even though had two losses. Thanks for asking :)

hey, did y’all see – there’s a new poll on dodgers.com. It asks:
How many wins will Clayton Kershaw have in 2008?
0-2
3-5
6-8
9 or more

Not sure if I would’ve asked that question. Kershaw is only 20 years old. Yes he’s gonna be a great pitcher; I have no doubt on that but do you have to constantly put so much focus on the kid? He’s under enough pressure as it is; don’t be pressuring him more by asking stupid questions like this.

I head on out to the ballpark
but I ain’t got nothing to do
I sit down next to Joe Torre
I sneeze, doggone, I must be getting the flu
I ain’t nothing but tired
Man I’m just tired and bored with myself
Hey there Easler, I could use just a little help

I can’t hit the baseball
I can’t hit that ball to save my life
My career is over
Well it would be but I gave Joe my wife

Message just keeps getting clearer
radio’s on and I hear them saying my stats
They say I’m hitting .100
Holy crap, that’s only one-third of Matt’s!
Man I ain’t getting nowhere
I’m just takin’ up a roster space
that could be used by someone
who won’t be stinking up the place

I can’t hit the baseball
I can’t hit that ball to save my life
I guess my run is over
Well it would be but I gave Joe my wife

You sit around getting older
There’s a joke here somewhere and I know it’s me
I’d defend myself if I didn’t
have a weight two times my OBP

When you’re a player in this town
the fans expect you to carry your own load
They say you gotta get on base
hey baby, I did once already this month
I’m dying for some action
I’m sick of sitting ’round here trying to hit that ball
I need a quality at-bat
come on now baby don’t let my average fall

You can’t hit the baseball, you can’t do nothin’ if you’re on the pine
Three swings and I’m done
Now my BA’s below The Sweeney Line
I used to be a good hitter, but now I’m starting to whine
I can’t hit nothin’
One more out and I’m at The Sweeney line
One more out and I’m at The Sweeney line
One more out and I’m at The Sweeney line
One more out and I’m at The Sweeney line

cp- I don’t know where they live, and messagebear is keeping an udated list too. :)
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messagebear – we may need to run the list again to see if we need to add anybody to the list. Also, I haven’t forgotten about the map. I figure after I come back from my trip in So-Cal (july 7-11), I should be able to get back in my classroom and get the map done. We might be able to get the map on dodgereric’s Dodger Lyrics page somehow if we can’t do it through here.

Dodgereric – FABULOUS!!!!!!! LOVE THE BOSS!
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That is so not fair to put a poll out for Kershaw – what are these people thinking – he’s just a kid. How about this one -How many games will Pierre play before having a day off? LOL!!!!
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jhall – you are right – he’s is pitching well – he’s just not getting run support.

http://dodgers.scout.com/2/765375.html
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I just had this articled google to me because Andre’s name was tagged, but it’s about the stats we were discussing yesterday PA and # of pitches – seems like some real stats might be starting to show up- HMMMMM!!
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will do eric!! Love the site – it looks incredible!!! My family (eventhough gnat fans) are very impressed by what we have done :) It was pretty seeing on my phone during the game – Wow!!

Dodgers sign Jerome Williams to minor-league dealhttp://insidesocal.com/dodgers/2008/06/dodgers-sign-je.html#comments
“The former big-league right-hander was last seen going 0-5 with a 7.20 ERA in six starts for the Nationals last year before they released him. He also spent 2 1/2 seasons with the Giants and 1 1/2 with the Cubs. For his career, he is 23-29 with a 4.25 ERA in the majors. But to illustrate just how far his star has fallen, the Dodgers have assigned him to high Single-A Inland Empire. He was originally drafted by the Giants as a first-round sandwich pick in 1999.”

What in the world are these people doooing!!! They are really out of the frickin’ minds. 1999 WTF! What do they expect to accomplish be that signing – I guess that’s the whole problem, they don’t know what they want :)
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BTW – we were going home from Modesto, listening to KNBR (home of the gnats/A’s), and there question for the day was – Would you rather win 1 World Series in 10 years or would you rather win multiple division titles, but not win the World Series? Most callers wanted the World Series. It was brought up because of the young A’s and gnats teams that are currently under a youth movement – sound familiar?

Definition of Comic Relief: Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character or scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension. Comic relief often takes the form of a bumbling, wisecracking sidekick.

There you have it. We cultists appreciate comedy. Why could we not see it? Joe Torre is a GENIUS! He’s been inserting Sweeney into those tense 9th inning situations to break the tension! He cares about us, the FANS!

jhall LMAO!! that song took all of my energy (jk) I have many songs in my head, but can’t sort out, but I am sure I will think of something. Enchanted’s probably got a stash ready to go anytime. I think that the dialogue between you, eric and enchanted about JP’s mama should be catalogued. It’s as good as Scott’s list (which is hilarious). I think the list should be posted with eric’s “I got you babe” song. Hell, all the Pierre songs should be posted – wouldn’t that drive Josh insane or what. That would some long-assed post every single day he plays. Pierre could have his own tag cloud – LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boys – calm down! you are getting out of control once again – LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I think cult is pretty far already – I don’t know how much farther we could get from normal than being referred to as a cult LMAO!!!!!!!!!

Ohhh Noooooo
.
A hot summer night, Joe Torre’s pet
He still can’t get a bunt down yet
A crooked hat, can’t hit a lick
To watch him play, just makes me sick
.
Doctor Doctor, gimme the news I got a
Bad case of Herpierre’s blues
No pill’s gonna cure my ill I got a
Bad case of Herpierre’s blues
.
A weak noodle arm, can’t make a throw
But JoJo says he’s what makes us go
No O B P, few R B I
JoJo, Phew ain’t that kind of guy
.
Doctor Doctor, gimme the news I got a
Bad case of Herpierre’s blues
No pill’s gonna cure my ill I got a
Bad case of Herpierre’s blues
.
(Solo)
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I really liked it, when Raffy lead off
I tell ya JoJo, Phew ain’t got the st-uff
.
They claim that speed is Juan P’s game
But he can’t steal first so that’s just plain lame
A pop to left, a ground to first
I tell ya all, Juan is the worst.
.
Doctor Doctor, gimme the news I got a
Bad case of Herpierre’s blues
No pill’s gonna cure my ill I got a
Bad case of Herpierre’s blues

Thank you enchanted – I needed that song – LMAO!!!
.
to answer your question jhall – yes, I am definitely doing a song now – uugghh!!!!
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iheartaethier is going to be pissed too – she’s going to the game :)

Nelly, I just watched Grady Sizemore bat. He fell behind in the count and worked a walk. He looks so classy up there. I am gonna puke when I have to look at Phew tonight. He looks like a freaking clown compared to Grady or just about anyone. LOL!!!!

Unbelievable. I am so frustrated. I guess neither Ethier or Dewitt are going to get a start against a lefty for the rest of the season now. I never thought I’d miss Grady, but Andre got better treatment by him than by Torre, and that’s not saying much.

My son and husband are at the jv game and it’s just me and my daughter (and she likes Mr. Pierre – ugh!!). So, I am pretty much screaming at the computer but the dogs think I am yelling at them. LMAO!!!
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seriously – he sits two days in row because he can’t hit off a lefty – how many hit off the lefty yesterday. Then again, we’ve all read, he should have played yesterday too, according to Danks – WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apologies to Stephen Sondheim for this:
.
Pierre is rich.
Ned has fake hair.
The team will be last in the West,
Fans in despair.
Send in the clowns.
.
Fans are all pissed.
They don’t approve.
Torre keeps jerking around,
Nomar can’t move.
They are all clowns;
Send in the clowns.
.
Fans want to see the kids play,
Finally knowing the kids that should play ev’ryday,
Making their entrance fifteen dollars in hand,
Sure who should play,
So few are there.
.
Jeff Kent takes hacks.
“Kid’s fault”, says he.
Andruw and Sweeney flail wildly.
Out! Strike three!
But where are the clowns?
Quick, send in the clowns.
Don’t bother, they’re here.
.
McCourt is rich,
But still no ring,
Losing so many this year.
Promote Kim Ng!
But where are the wins?
The kid could still win.
Well, maybe next year.

Importantly, thanks to jhall for wrirting “Frank, Ned, and JoJo the 3 clowns are turning the Dodgers into a circus.” and enchanted for writing “Trouble is when you get to be that rich, its like playing with Monopoly money.” to give me the idea.

A while back we compiled a list of our regular bloggers and determined their physical location, city and state. There are still some names that we recognize, but we don’t have the city and state information for those. If you care to, please provide that information on this blog, and we will pick up and update the list. If there are names that we are missing on the list, please feel free to give us additional blogger names as well. Thank you.

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